Austin Chai Wala — Restaurant in Austin

Having lived in Houston for a while and now moving to Austin, I was really excited to finally try Austin Chai Wala, which I've heard so much about. The wife and I stopped by on 4/8/21 a little before opening and had no issue finding parking.

The first thing that was disappointing was the customer service, which was non-existent. The guy in the food truck seems like he had no interest whatsoever in being there. When I asked him about some of the products, he gave 1 word responses and actually didn't describe what it was. I could understand this if they were busy and trying to keep the line moving, but as we were the only ones in line, this was odd.

We ordered an Iced Kashmiri Chai and a Dhoot Patti. I will give them this, that what we ordered was freshly made and it took about ten minutes for them to make the drinks. Sadly the drinks were massively watered down, with little to no flavor. I am not sure if ethnic Pakistanis like myself are the target audience, but this would never fly with native chai drinkers.

I was really wanting to like this place and wanted to include it in the usual rotation of must-visit places but sadly I doubt I will return. I might give the location in Sugarland a try before I leave Houston, who knows.

Edit: 4/25/21

Wow, I received a very pleasant reply from the owner, within one hour, explaining the situation and rectifying it by offering a refund. He explained they were in a new training process and that likely caused our negative experience. Now that is great customer service. I will definitely give Austin Chai Wala another try and update my...

Update: The owner reached out shortly after the review and was apologetic about our experience. He noted they made changes and improvements to their catering since our event. Also, gave us a gift card for he place and offered partial refund. I only took him up on the gift card. I can't speak for the improved service but he was professional about understanding our concerns and trying to follow up on us not keeping the food. Food, as I said, is great. Improving my rating to a 4 and appreciate the follow-up.

We used him for catering our breakfast for our wedding. We ordered tea, coffee, and food. Overall okay service, but the food was good; definitely not amazing service. Also, as we had already paid for everything, we expected them to leave the food (as all our other vendors did). However, they took all the food with them and didn't respond to our email after. Not the end of the world, but would like to be able to keep items I already purchased; as the food was good and my family did ask if we had any the next day. Recommend being clear with them when using them for catering as they may not respond once they get the rest of...

Late Friday night plans of exploring this place was not disappointing to say the least.

Ordered a kashmiri chai. I am a kashmiri and was excite to try it out. I have never had this tea in my life. It’s nice but I guess an acquired taste maybe.

Doodh patti brought back memories of India. The typical desi chai. Loved it.

Masala fries we a nice try.

Attaching a pic of my husband smelling the tea and another pic of samosas in case you wish to see how they look like 😝 Ordered samosas too. So they use mezabaan frozen samosas. You get two in one order with a very unique chutney with lots of flavours in it but ginger overpowering them all.

It’s just one person who takes care of everything. He is very hardworking and polite. He doesn’t seem to understand English and Hindi too well. But with some effort you might get what you want.

There is a sweet seating area. Cannot accommodate too many guests but it’s ok to have something around to sit and enjoy. I loved it!

One star less coz they use...